Industry calls for tax break

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The country's film and television producers have taken the fight
for more private investment to Canberra. Hurting from a sharp drop
in production, they have called on the Federal Government to
provide tax concessions for export earnings.

They believe this will encourage more private investment in
higher-budget production, including feature films, action-based
television dramas, sophisticated animations and miniseries that can
compete internationally.

The executive director of the Screen Producers Association of
Australia, Geoff Brown, said yesterday that the country needed to
make the audio-visual industries more globally competitive in the
digital era.

"We've got to get out of this domestic focus," he said, adding
that budgets of $6 million to $10 million meant that Australian
feature films were largely comedies and dramas, which limited their
export potential. "You have to have budgets around $20 million to
make these great Australian stories. And these great Australian
stories travel."

Australian Film Commission figures show that only 15 feature
films were produced last financial year, down from an average of 28
in the late 1990s. Television drama production was also at the
lowest level for a decade. Brown said the existing 100 per cent tax
write-offs were attracting only modest private investment.

The association's proposal notes that private investors
championed such maverick films as Crocodile Dundee and
Strictly Ballroom that might not have satisfied the normal
processes of government funding agencies.

The association believes a 50per cent tax exemption for export
earnings could boost production from $170 million to $255 million a
year.

"Because the new concession targets export income, it would
provide an inducement to producers to seek out projects with strong
international sales prospects," the association said.

Brown said there had been an initially positive response from
the Arts Minister, Rod Kemp, to the proposal.